Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Impatiens walleriana cultivar Bodlizsal.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Mini Impatiens plant, botanically known as Impatiens walleriana, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Bodlizsalxe2x80x99.
The new Mini Impatiens is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Lompoc, Calif. The objective of the breeding program was to develop new compact and freely-branching Mini Impatiens cultivars with numerous small flowers and attractive flower and foliage coloration.
The new Impatiens originated from a self-pollination made by the Inventor in December, 1999, of a proprietary Impatiens walleriana selection identified as code number 01IM240-2, not patented. The cultivar Bodlizsal was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated self-pollination in a controlled environment in Lompoc, Calif.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings in Lompoc, Calif., has shown that the unique features of this new Impatiens are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Bodlizsalxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Bodlizsalxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Mini Impatiens cultivar:
1. Compact, upright, outwardly spreading and mounded plant habit.
2. Freely branching habit; dense and bushy growth habit.
3. Small dark green-colored leaves.
4. Freely flowering habit.
5. Small dark pink-colored flowers that are positioned above and beyond the foliage.
Plants of the new Impatiens differ primarily from plants of the parent selection in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Impatiens are more compact than plants of the parent selection.
2. Plants of the new Impatiens have smaller leaves than plants of the parent selection.
3. Plants of the new Impatiens have smaller flowers than plants of the parent selection.
4. Flowers of plants of the new Impatiens are dark pink in color whereas flowers of plants of the parent selection are coral pink in color.
The new Impatiens can be compared to the Impatiens walleriana cultivar Fify Salmon, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,559. However, in side-by-side comparisons conducted in Lompoc, Calif., plants of the new Impatiens differed from plants of the cultivar Fify Salmon in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Impatiens were taller than plants of the cultivar Fify Salmon.
2. Plants of the new Impatiens were more freely branching than plants of the cultivar Fify Salmon.
3. Plants of the new Impatiens had larger leaves than plants of the cultivar Fify Salmon.
4. Plants of the new Impatiens had larger flowers than plants of the cultivar Fify Salmon.
5. Plants of the new Impatiens had lighter pink-colored flowers than plants of the cultivar Fify Salmon.